@article{ref1,
title="Community Ambulation in Older Adults: Which Internal Characteristics Are Important?",
journal="Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation",
year="2010",
author="Lord, Susan E. and Weatherall, M. and Rochester, Lynn",
volume="91",
number="3",
pages="378-383",
abstract="OBJECTIVE: To examine the internal characteristics of older adults independent in community ambulation to gain further understanding of the skills required for its successful execution. DESIGN: Exploratory factor analysis. SETTING: General community. PARTICIPANTS: Healthy, community dwelling older adults (N=113) who were cognitively intact and walked outdoors independently. INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Spatiotemporal gait parameters derived from accelerometry over 6 minutes walking outdoors and a battery of measures for motor, cognitive, executive, and behavioral characteristics. RESULTS: Mean participant age +/- SD was 75.8+/-7.3 years, with almost a third of the sample over 80 years. Four factors emerged from the Factor Analysis of 23 variables: motor control, self-efficacy, executive function, and cognitive-motor interference, which together explained 61.4% of common variance. Eight variables loaded onto motor control, accounting for 34.5% of common variance; 7 items loaded onto self-efficacy, which explained 12.4% of common variance; 5 variables loaded onto executive function, accounting for 8.4% of common variance; and 3 variables loaded onto cognitive-motor interference, explaining 6% of the variance. CONCLUSIONS: Results of this study indicate that factors beyond motor control contribute to independent community ambulation in older adults, reflecting the multidimensional, complex nature of the task. Self-efficacy was shown to be more relevant than executive function to gait performance, suggesting the need for a broader approach to assessment and intervention strategies.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0003-9993",
doi="10.1016/j.apmr.2009.11.008",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apmr.2009.11.008"
}